Anthony Chaiton and Nick Santucci made sure the Panthers' season won't end Monday. Franklin's No. 2 and 3 hitters delivered consecutive run scoring rips in the fifth inning to propel the Panthers to a 4-3 win over Hopkinton in the Pedroli consolation game.

By Brad JoyalDaily News correspondent

NATICK — While the Franklin baseball team would have been thrilled to win the Pedroli Memorial Daily News Classic, the team's real goal was much simpler. Entering the tournament with three games remaining, the Panthers still needed one more win to qualify for the state tournament.Things became more difficult for Franklin on Friday when it dropped its opening game of the tournament to Natick, forcing the team to win one of its final two games to qualify.Anthony Chaiton and Nick Santucci made sure the Panthers' season won't end Monday. Franklin's No. 2 and 3 hitters delivered consecutive run scoring rips in the fifth inning to propel the Panthers to a 4-3 win over Hopkinton in the Pedroli consolation game.At 10-9, Franklin is assured of a postseason berth."One of our goals all year was to qualify for the state tournament," Franklin coach Zach Brown said after the win over Hopkinton (11-8). "I'm really proud of the guys, they put in a lot of hard work and effort. We started 2-4 and were kind of struggling to find our identity but we did and hit our stride to get it done in a tournament with great competition. It's very gratifying."Chaiton gave Franklin a 3-2 lead in the bottom half of the fifth when his line drive to center field and an outfield error allowed Drew Inglesi to score from first. It was the first hit of the day for the junior who allowed two runs on three hits through his six innings pitched in Friday's 2-0 loss to Natick in the tournament's opening round."I just went up there looking for a good first-pitch fastball," Chaiton said after being named to the all-tournament team. "He wasn't really mixing up (pitches) that well, so I was kind of sitting on it and looking for something I could drive and see what I could do."Chaiton advanced to third on a throw to the place and scored on the next pitch when Santucci put a single up the middle, giving Franklin a 4-2 lead.Franklin took an early 1-0 lead in the second when junior catcher Nick Burgos' RBI double to left scored Pat O'Reilly. Hopkinton tied it in the fourth with a sacrifice fly from Nick Burns that scored Andrew McMillan and took a 2-1 lead later in the inning when Matt Decina scored on an RBI double from Chris Moberg.A two-out balk from Holler moved O'Reilly from first to second in the bottom half of the fourth and the Panthers took advantage. Junior Kyle Skidmore's base hit to left scored O'Reilly and tied it 2-2.Hopkinton cut its deficit to one run in the sixth when Nick Casassa's groundball was misplayed by Santucci at shortstop and allowed Burns — who was also named to the all-tournament team after allowing one run and four hits in the team's 1-0 loss to Lincoln-Sudbury on Friday — to score his second run of the game."We came in here with three different Division 1 teams," Hopkinton coach Jay Golden said. "Being a Division 2 team, it's the best preparation we can have for the state tournament. Obviously we would've liked to come out on the other end with two wins, but to go toe-to-toe with them, we proved to ourselves we can play with anybody."Santucci came in to replace Franklin starting pitcher Zane Byrne in the seventh and pitched a 1-2-3 inning. Byrne allowed six hits and three runs in his six innings of work, while Holler (6 IP, 7 H, 4 R, 3 K, 2 BB) put forth a complete-game effort for Hopkinton.